Let’s close the Dadeland Gap

A committee from Green Mobility Network spent a recent morning exploring the Dadeland Gap, where there is no good way to ride a bike or to walk between the M-Path and the South Dade Trail. We had with us the plans for a project backed by both paths' owner, Miami-Dade Transit, to close the gap — and we were eager to see them while looking at the actual site. We were disappointed. Instead of the bicycle facility we perhaps naively anticipated, the plans for Phase I of the M-Path Extension are entirely for work to be done at Metrorail's Dadeland North station. The plans show new bulkheads to be built along the C-2 canal, with a walkway on the south bank giving transit passengers a third route between the street and the center of the station. It could be quite an attractive enhancement. We couldn't see, though, how this walkway would do anything to help close the Dadeland Gap, that daunting stretch between SW 67th Avenue in South Miami and Metrorail's Dadeland South station, the head of the South Dade Trail. And closing the gap is what bicyclists in that part of the county have been calling for for at least three years. This just underlines the importance of Green Mobility's latest campaign, Complete the M-Path, which also addresses the disrepair at several places such as this stretch near Vizcaya. You can join the campaign on Facebook or by clicking "Contact" at the top of this Web site and sending us an e-mail. We'll also update here from time to time. The M-Path and the South Dade Trail are very useful — but could be so much more useful if they were connected. Won't you come aboard and help win the connectivity that Kendall and South Miami-Dade are lacking?